Portugal advance to Euro 2016 quarters

Lens, (France): Ricardo Quaresma, who was sent in quite late to replace Joao Mario, managed to break a scoreless Euro 2016 pre-quarterfinal match in the 117th minute, enabling Portugal to defeat Croatia 1-0 and advance to the quarter-finals.

Portugal's forward Ricardo Quaresma celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Croatia at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium in Lens. Pics/AFP

In a seemingly endless and rather lackluster game filled with mistakes by both sides here on Saturday, it was finally Cristiano Ronaldo - in his only on-goal attempt of the match - who fired one that was deflected by goalkeeper Danijel Subasic right into the vicinity of Quaresma, who easily headed the ball into the unmanned net from point-blank range, reports EFE.

It was an unusual match in that neither squad got a single accurate shot on goal all during regulation time and barely any more during the two 15-minute overtime periods at Bollaert-Delelis Stadium in Lens.

Although there were some good displays of ball-handling during the match, it was generally a featureless contest and only one yellow card was handed out to Portugal's William.

Portugal will next face off against Poland - who defeated Switzerland 5-4 in a penalty kick shootout earlier on Saturday - on Thursday in Marseille.